Illuminated
by isabellamonterrey
Summary: Isabella Monterrey and The Doctor share a unique bond. You see, he saved her life. When Isabella discovers an old crib, she confronts The Doctor about it. How will The Doctor react to such an incredibly uncomfortable subject in his life? The DoctorxOC oneshot OOC The Doctor


It was always hard to tell the exact time inside the TARDIS. Of course, I could tell the time of places I visited and planets I explored. But inside, it always felt a little timeless. My body-clock, however, told me that it was very late and a time for me to be sleeping.

I had always found my room in the TARDIS to be extremely comfortable and the kind of room I had always imagined. And yet... I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned until I just couldn't stand it any longer.

"Fine," I grumbled. Slowly, I sat up and yawned. I slipped on the sneakers that I kept by the bedside and walked to my bedroom door.

If I couldn't sleep, I may as well do some exploring. It had certainly been a long time since I began travelling with the marvellous Doctor and there was still plenty of things inside the TARDIS that I had not discovered. Even he barely knew most of the rooms in his beloved time machine.

Glancing side to side, I decided on heading right. Just incase the Doctor was asleep (if he even slept), I crept along the corridors silently. The first door I came across led into a huge room that me assumed was a ballroom of sorts.

Several large, crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, shining yellow light onto the blue and silver wallpaper. Stepping into the room to explore, I found another door right on the other side.

This one led me to a swimming pool. I had definitely been here before. But I could've sworn I had come another way... Maybe there was more than one?

Moving on, I re-discovered the Library, found two colourful bathrooms, a kitchen, several other bedrooms, an art studio and finally, a storage room.

"Made in Taiwan?" I said as I picked up an item from the shelf, "...In the year 100,347...that explains it."

The stuff I found in the rest of the storeroom was altogether odd as quirky, although I had keen interest in each object. Even the ordinary items had some kind of way to tweak my fancy.

Just as I turned to leave the room, something caught my eye. It was quite large and had been covered over with a throw. I wondered how the heck I had managed to miss it before. Dramatically, I flung the cover to the ground.

"Oh my god," I coughed and spluttered as dust flew everywhere.

Underneath the throw had been a beautiful (although dust-covered) wooden crib. It had been painted a storm cloud blue and gold but the paint was obviously chipping away. A mobile hung from the highest part of the crib, displaying many wonderful-looking bronze planets and silver stars.

I bent down to examine it further, running my fingers across the wood. Some kind of symbols were written in gold on the side.

"Beautiful..." I said to myself quietly.

The sudden noise of something moving made me jump. I looked around, but nobody was there and nothing seemed out of place. I shrugged it off and decided that it was time to leave.

As I walked on, the corridors all became much more familiar. I noted walking past my own bedroom and the main kitchen.

As I approached the control room, I could definitely hear movement.

"Hey, Doctor," I said, stepping down the stairs.

The Doctor's attention was dragged from the console and to me. His hair seemed to stick up more than usual and the blue lights of the room were casting dark shadows across his face. He raised an eyebrow.

"Isabella...didn't expect you to be up," he said, flicking a switch.

"Well... I couldn't sleep," I said with a yawn. I watched as the Doctor's face grew with concern.

"Is everything okay?" He asked coming closer to me, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" I said a little too quickly, "I'm not having nightmares or anything if that's what you're thinking."

There was a pregnant pause in the conversation. It was so quiet I could even hear the TARDIS whirring.

"Hey!" The Doctor burst out suddenly causing me to jump again, "Sorry...I was just wondering... I set the TARDIS to drift around for a bit. I thought maybe you might want a look?"

"Umm... Okay," I laughed. I and the Doctor walked to the TARDIS doors, which I opened. I felt my breath catch in my throat. The view was amazing.

I was looking out upon a nebula - or so the Doctor told me. Clouds of orange gases looked as if they were caving in on a dark blue mist, speckled with millions of glimmering stars. A green haze swirled right in the centre of all the beautiful chaos.

I turned and gave the Doctor a huge smile and he beamed back at me.

"Not bad, eh?" He said, crouching to the ground and swinging his legs out of the TARDIS.

"It's absolutely wonderful, Doctor," I said, sitting down beside him, "Just amazing!"

The Doctor stared at me as I soaked in the view. He noticed how much my eyes were sparkling with fascination. He found it intriguing how I could always feel so amazed by things he'd already shown me many times before and not get bored. It was one of the many things he liked about me. No, not liked. Loved.

"Doctor?" My voice brought him back to reality. "When I couldn't sleep... I did a bit of... Exploring."

The Doctor didn't say anything. "And well," I continued, "I found this beautiful blue crib lying in a dusty storeroom. If you don't mind me asking... Who's was it?"

The Timelord shuffled uncomfortably and suddenly had interest in the view again. Seconds later, he looked back to me.

"It was mine," he said. I stared into his massive brown eyes. They looked sad, as if old times hurt to remember.

I could relate to that in a way. Probably not on such a as scale such as his but the feeling was still the same. The last few years had been nothing but easy for me. Until that night the Doctor turned up and saved me from those horrible statues. That's when things began to look up - that's when things got brighter.

I thought back to that one night where I and the Doctor had kissed under the fall of alien snow. Those were the kind of memories that I wanted more of.

"The symbols on the side of the crib..." I said, "What did they mean?"

Once again the Doctor looked a little uncomfortable. For a moment I regretted ever asking. But then he answered.

"My name," he said quietly, "Not 'the Doctor'...my real name."

"Oh..." I said, "Well I think it's beautiful." The Doctor drew in a sharp breath and instantly looked happy again.

"Anyway..." He said cheerfully, "You need sleep, missy because it is now..." He checked his watch, "Half past two where you come from."

"But-" I grumbled.

"Nope, off to bed," he said, cutting me off.

"Yes, dad," I said, "But on one condition."

The Doctor quirked that eyebrow at me again.

"Depends on the condition."

"The condition is..." I started, "That you come to bed with me."

"But, Isabella, I don't need sle-" the Doctor complained.

"I don't care what you say. Every living being needs to rest at least once in their existence," I told him. "Now c'mon! I'm actually really tired."

The Doctor sighed and accepted the hand I held out for him.

"I'm not the only one who needs sleep," I whispered as we both trailed back down the corridor and into my bedroom, before both falling gently to sleep.


End file.
